Our Mission

To ensure that proper legal services are provided to the Government; to provide statutory services to the public relating to the public trust and bankruptcy matters; and to register titles, mortgages, companies, societies and other bodies as well as other documents, as required by the law.

The Ministry of Legal Affairs has a number of activities slated for 2018, one of the most important being the continued hosting of anti-corruption seminars across the country. According to Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Senior Counsel (SC), Basil Williams, these have been well received by Guyanese across the country.

The AG, who was addressing media operatives on Monday, said citizens have suggested that these seminars be held every six months in their respective locations. He noted that “We need to keep the financial economy clean from dirty drug money and money laundering and also to educate employees about the importance of not purloining or stealing state assets.”

In this vein, the Legal Affairs Minister informed that an Assessors Training will be held in Guyana from January 22-26, 2018 and is expected to attract some 50 participants from the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) from around the region.

A Prosecutors and Judges Conference, which will be co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the CFATF will also be held in Guyana.

The AG, in further outlining the ministry’s plans, said a meeting of the Council for Legal Education is scheduled for September, among other activities.

As it relates to the operation of the Deeds and Commercial and Land Registries, the goal is to enable persons to access the electronic registries without having to leave their homes or place of businesses.

Addressing the issue of overcrowding in the prisons, particularly for trafficking small amounts of marijuana, Minister Williams told the media that the Law Reform Commission has the responsibility of recommending alternative sentencing.

“In other words, instead of fixing jail sentences, upon conviction, you have some other alternative sentence,” he noted.

On the matter of decriminalising marijuana, the AG said it has not yet been discussed at the cabinet level, but it is something that could be considered and should attract consultations.

Referencing a recent study, AG Williams said it emphasises the need for public education on the effects of marijuana as well.

In addition, legislation dealing with Corporal Punishment, the decriminalising of same-sex relationships and the Death Penalty, the AG disclosed, have not yet come up for discussion at the cabinet level.

Panel picked Justice Benjamin - by Admin - January

9, 2018

Attorney General, Basil Williams

…AG plays down concerns over backlog of written decisions

ATTORNEY General, Basil Williams has assured that the high-level panel that had interviewed the candidates for the top judicial posts had recommended Justice Kenneth Benjamin to be chancellor of the Judiciary, playing down reports in another section of the media that the Belize Chief Justice did not score the most marks in the interview.

Justice Kenneth Benjamin

Justice Benjamin was selected and recommended to the President by a panel comprising former Justice of Appeal, Claudette Singh; Justice James Patterson and Professor Harold Lutchman. “I know that the person identified was Mr Kenneth Benjamin… [He] was recommended by the panel,” Williams, a Senior Counsel told a news conference at his chambers on Monday.

Asked why Justice Benjamin is a good choice to hold the post of Chancellor here, the Attorney General said the question should be directed to the President. He noted however, that the nomination of Justice Benjamin derived from the panel of persons identified by the President to interview and recommend a nominee. “I am sure the President had set out the transparent process and he appointed three exceptional luminaries and they dealt with it,” said Williams.

Asked whether he believes it would not be better to confirm the acting Chancellor and Chief Justice to the substantive posts, Williams said, “I couldn’t answer a question like that- it is not a matter for me…[But for] the president and Leader of the Opposition.” He noted that acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire did not apply for her substantive post.

On January 2, President David Granger and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo met and agreed to meet again next month for a another round of consultation on the appointment of a substantive chancellor of the judiciary and a chief justice. It was the Opposition Leader who requested time to consider the nominees for the top judicial posts.

Justice Benjamin, who is Guyanese by birth, was nominated by the head of state to hold the post of Chancellor, while acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards was nominated for the post of Chief Justice. Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire is currently serving as the acting Chief Justice.

Justice Benjamin had served as a magistrate in Georgetown in 1980 and 1981, and subsequently an Assistant Judge Advocate for the Guyana Defence Force. The Guyanese scholar has served 17 years as a High Court Judge of the Eastern Caribbean Court (ECC). If appointed chancellor, Justice Benjamin will replace Justice Cummings-Edwards, who has been acting in the post since March, 2017. Justice Cummings-Edwards has previously acted as the chief justice.

Article 127 of the Constitution of Guyana states that the Chancellor and the Chief Justice shall be appointed by the President acting after obtaining the agreement of the Leader of the Opposition; it is as a result of this constitutional provision that President David Granger is bound to meet with the Opposition Leader on the matter. It is expected that at the next meeting, slated for next month the Opposition Leader is likely to indicate his agreement with the nominees put forward by the President. Guyana has been without a substantive Chancellor since 2005 since the then Chancellor, Desiree Bernard, retired and took up the post as judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) the same year.

Backlog of casesMeanwhile, Williams on Monday also brushed aside concerns about Justice Benjamin’s inability to complete a number of written decisions in Belize. The Attorney General using the biblical analogy in answering the question said: “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” He added that there is no jurisdiction, certainly not Guyana that has not been beset by these issues of backlog of cases,” Williams said. Acknowledging that Guyana has over 10,000 backlogged cases, the Attorney General said when he first took office; he approached the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to partner with government on the issue.

The IDB he said explained that it had invested lots of money on a pilot project here but that proved to be a failure. In fact, Williams said when he took office in 2015 he discovered equipment purchased under that IDB funded project was hidden at his Ministry rather than being in the court- rooms. “We have to pass legislation in this country to delineate the time within which judges should render a judgment,” said the Attorney General even as he believes that implementing measures such as the digital voice system (verbatim) in the court will speed up trials and will provide judges with accurate information.

“The evidence is recorded electronically and you can get a print-out in a short space of time,” he stated noting that his government is inclined to ensure that there is access to justice and that there is speedy justice. It should be noted that reports in the Belizean press indicate that Justice Benjamin was under intense scrutiny for failing to reduce the number of backlog cases. In fact, it was published in the Amandala on December 16, 2017, a Belizean newspaper, that the Belize Bar Association in September had passed a resolution calling on Justice Benjamin to deliver delayed judgments for 32 cases he heard. Additionally, the Belizean Bar had threatened to have him removed from his post for misconduct.

AG turns up heat on CLE chair - by Admin - January 9, 2018

Attorney General Basil Williams, S.C. (Delano Williams)

…over handling of Guyana’s push for law school

ATTORNEY General, Basil Williams has expressed disquiet over the manner in which Chairman of the Council of Legal Education (CLE), Reginald Armour has been handling Guyana’s move to open its own law school and has threatened that this country may soon take the issue to the Caricom Heads of Government.

Chairman of the CLE, Reginald Armour, S.C. (The Trinidad Guardian)

Guyana moving ahead with the school has hit a snag with Armour reportedly saying that no permission was given to this country to have its own institution. But Williams has disputed this contention while making it clear that should Armour continue to interfere in the matter, it is likely that Guyana would resort to taking the issue to the CARICOM heads. “If this chairman continues to act in the manner in which he is acting, against the interest of Guyana, we would have to take the matter to the CARICOM heads again.

I am not sure Guyana would be comfortable with such a person remaining in office to chair this organisation,” Williams threatened during a news conference at his office on Monday. Williams himself early December had announced that a Review Committee of the CLE has agreed that the Council should defer the establishment of new law schools; a move he believes is as a result of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) intention to sabotage Guyana’s efforts to establish its own law school.

The AG said Armour, of Trinidad and Tobago, relied on a report of a Review Committee which included former Chancellor Carl Singh, to say that the CLE never gave permission to Guyana to establish its own Law School. Justice Carl Singh, former acting Chancellor of the Judiciary here, was the only Head of Judiciary on the Review Committee established in 2009 and was allowed to continue to serve on it by the new Chairman, until his removal was requested, as he had retired from that office at the last CLE Council Meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago from September 7 to 9, 2017. Justice Singh has since denied any involvement in any meeting.

Williams contends that the Review Committee which was set up for a different purpose, suddenly reopened a decision of a Council Meeting in Antigua in September 2016, chaired by previous Chairman, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown S.C., of Jamaica, who concluded after considering several documents, including an unauthorised letter of inquiry by one Trevor Hamilton of Jamaica, that some “determination had been made”; that is, granting Guyana permission to establish a Law School.

The Review Committee comprised the Principals of the three Law Schools under the CLE: a Senior Counsel from Barbados; former Chancellor Carl Singh, and the new Chairman. Guyana’s delegation at the September, 2016 meeting of the CLE in Antigua included Madam Yonette Cummings-Edwards, Chancellor (ag); President of the Bar Association, Ms. Gem Sandford-Johnson; Secretary of the said Bar, Ms. Excellence Dazzell and AG Williams S.C.

It is as a result of the decision of the Council that Guyana entered into the MoU with the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) and the Law College of the Americas (LCA) last January. The MoU provides for a feasibility study to be undertaken to determine whether the Joint Venture Partners should proceed to execute the establishment of the Joseph Haynes Law School (JHLS) here.

In light of this, Guyana and its partners pursued the feasibility study and made a request to Chairman Armour to provide Guyana formally with the criteria to operate the local law school. This was not done. The Executive Council’s CLE will be meeting in Guyana sometime in September and the matter is likely to be raised and discussed then.

Strange actions Williams described Armour’s actions as “strange” noting that he never afforded Guyana a hearing on the matter. “He never disclosed to me that the reason he put the item on the agenda is at the behest of Mr Nandlall. We have emails which he wrote to (Anil) Nandlall, thanking him and saying he will put it on his agenda. He engages the opposition without consulting the sitting Attorney General and fixes the matter on the agenda without asking my permission first,” Williams stated Monday.

The Attorney General said he is unsure of Armour’s motives but believes he is acting in a manner contrary to a person who is the custodian of the organisation he heads. “The action of this person is unheard of in an international public service situation…and we are wondering whether it would be in our interest for the person to continue…The agenda is set by sitting members, people in government, not people in opposition. Secondly, the review committee can’t make no decision to overrule a council decision,” he declared.

Additionally, Williams said that in the past Guyanese law students suffered and nothing was done to alleviate their suffering. He explained that approximately 200 law students are churned out annually from Jamaica and Trinidad while Guyana only has the opportunity to send 25 students. “Our first year, we had to ask the president who was at CARICOM heads meeting to put the issue on the agenda and that is where the heads of government decided that the Guyanese law students must be admitted,” Williams reminded.

Demarcating land Meanwhile, Williams said the establishment of the school is still on the cards, assuring reporters that efforts are continuing to ensure that the school is established. In fact, he disclosed that he has since written Vice Chancellor of the University of Guyana (UG), Professor Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith to facilitate the demarcation of lands at the Turkeyen Campus to house the law school. “We are working for the school,” he assured. He told reporters that the feasibility study, though incomplete, is going well.

“The thing we are waiting for now is to get the land demarcated and I have written the Vice-Chancellor Dr Griffith… [who] asked the Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Dr Barbara Reynolds, to facilitate the demarcation of the land on the campus.” “We have started far apart but we are very close now. Once we have the land, we will try to move ahead to alleviate the sufferings of the law students,” he assured.

Williams, in January 2017, had announced the launch of the project for the establishment of the JOF Haynes Law School. The project comes after some two decades of lobbying for an alternative to the Norman Manley Law School in Jamaica, the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eugene Dupuch Law School in The Bahamas.

The JOF Haynes Law School is being established through a Public-Private Partnership between the Government of Guyana, the Law School of the Americas (LCA) and the University College of the Caribbean (UCC) and will add to the existing options available to holders of a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB), and who intend to pursue their Legal Education Certificate (LEC).

A timeline of 2018 was set for the establishment of the local institution. Guyanese students are faced with hefty sums they have to pay and along with the small quota of students accepted into the Hugh Wooding Law School, are of concern to his administration. Permission

The Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Basil Williams join with his Staff and the rest of the country to wish the First Lady Mrs. Sandra Granger a Happy Birthday - 8th January, 2018

Details

Published: 08 January 2018

The Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General Basil Williams join with his Staff and the rest of the country to wish the First Lady Mrs. Sandra Granger a Happy Birthday.